BOSTON -- With one day left for legislators to tackle major legislation before formal sessions end for the year, House and Senate negotiating committees reached deals Wednesday night on bills aimed at boosting job growth, updating gun laws, combating domestic violence, paying for environmental and energy projects, and instituting new accountability measures at local housing authorities.

Six-member conference committees appointed by the House and Senate at various times over the past two years to hash out final compromises on these remaining five bills all filed reports, setting up expected votes in the House and Senate Thursday in hopes of moving the bills to the governor’s desk.

Both the House and Senate plan to meet Thursday starting at 11 a.m. and are expected to run through the tape when the two-year formal session ends at midnight. After Thursday, most lawmakers will turn their attention to re-election campaigns, while non-controversial legislation can still advance in informal sessions as long as no one legislator objects.

Proposals to repair water and sewer infrastructure and improve access to substance abuse treatment have passed both branches, but were not sent to conference committees and remain unresolved.

Dozens of other bills continue to emerge from committees for consideration, but face challenging odds given the little time remaining on the clock.

DISCRETION FOR RIFLE AND SHOTGUN PERMITS

Negotiators from the House and Senate compromised on major gun legislation, giving police chiefs the ability to petition the courts to deny someone a firearm identification card to carry a rifle or shotgun.

The issue emerged as a major sticking point between the branches after the Senate objected to a House proposal to give chiefs discretion to deny an FID card to someone who passed a basic background check based a certain standards.

Rather than force a citizen to fight a denial in court, the compromise bill shifts the burden to a police chief to petition a judge in district court within 90 days to deny a rifle or shotgun permit. In the bill, chiefs retain the authority to deny licenses to carry handguns.

“Because of the Senate’s concerns over the 2nd amendment we came up with what we thought was a good compromise putting the burden of proof on the police chief to deny a fundamental right. The fact that we could come to an agreement is significant. We both moved a long way, I think,” said House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano, a Quincy Democrat and the lead House conferee on the gun bill.

Page 2 of 5 - The anti-gun violence bill, which is a top priority this session for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, also proposes to connect Massachusetts with the national background database to share mental health information, establishes some new categories of crimes involving firearms, creates a new gun trafficking unit within the State Police, and requires the state to create a web portal for conducting private gun sales that would allow for instant background checks.

Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr was the only conferee not to sign off on the report. Reps. Garrett Bradley of Hingham and George Peterson (R-Grafton and Sens. James Timilty of Walpole and Anthony Petruccelli of East Boston also sat on the conference committee and agreed to the compromise bill. – M. Murphy/SHNS

Lawmakers agreed to give shoppers a break from the state’s sales tax on the third weekend of August, under a compromise economic development bill.

Negotiators on the six-member conference committee set Aug. 16-17 as the dates for what has become an annual holiday from the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax. The holiday has traditionally taken place the second weekend of August and covered purchases less than $2,500.

The Senate had pushed for the weekend of Aug. 9-10, while the House had backed the third weekend. Retailers haven’t waited for lawmakers to compromise with some already running advertisements alerting shoppers that the weekend is coming up in August without specifying which weekend.

The compromise economic development bill also gives Boston a set new number of liquor licenses and gives the mayor the authority to appoint his own licensing board, but does not eliminate the statewide cap for all other cities and towns, as the Senate and Gov. Deval Patrick proposed to do.

The bill also creates a seafood marketing program fund within the Division of Marine Fisheries to support the state’s fishing and seafood industry, establishes a 3-year entrepreneur-in-residence pilot program at centers within UMass Lowell and UMass Boston, creates tax credits for “angel investors” and “off-Broadway” productions, and updates the state’s definition of car-sharing, meaning Zipcar and similar companies do not have to charge a membership fee.

The bill also includes a “Big Data” innovation and workforce fund, a transformative development fund to provide equity investments and technical assistance to Gateway Cities, and an advanced manufacturing and information technology trust fund for training and education programs.

Page 3 of 5 - The state’s Infrastructure Investment Incentive program would undergo an expansion through an increase in total allowable program spending to $600 million from $325 million.

The Massachusetts Sports Partnership is required to report on the feasibility of hosting a NASCAR event, according to the bill. The compromise bill does not include a Senate-backed attempt to limit the use of non-compete employment agreements to six months and prohibit their use for hourly employees.

Gov. Deval Patrick had urged lawmakers to implement a complete ban, arguing that the employment restrictions hamper innovation and drive skilled technology workers out of state, but opponents suggest they can provide valuable protections for companies, particularly when used for high-level executives.

The bill also proposed to adopt the Uniform Trade Secrets Act to protect propriety corporate information.

Legislation that creates a first offense domestic violence assault and battery charge, establishes a domestic violence offender registry, and provides education for judges and prosecutors about cycles of abuse was finalized by lawmakers.

The bill also requires a six-hour “cooling off” period before anyone arrested on a domestic violence charge can be arraigned and bailed from jail, in the hopes of giving a victim time to seek safety.

“We believe that slowing down the process will allow the district attorneys to find out a little bit more information about alleged perpetrators, so they can get criminal histories, get police reports from other towns and other districts,” Rep. Christopher Markey, a former prosecutor who participated in the conference committee, said.

The creation of a domestic violence first offense assault and battery charge will give prosecutors more tools, advocates say. The compromise legislation also gives prosecutors more time to assess a case in order to decide whether or not to request a dangerousness hearing, according to Rep. Garrett Bradley of Hingham, who participated in conference committee negotiations.

“It really empowers victims and plugs some gaps that were in the system up until today,” Bradley said. about the compromise bill.

Judges and prosecutors will have more information available to them about an accused batterer’s history of domestic violence through a record keeping system similar to the state’s Criminal Offender Record Information.

The final version of the bill also includes a provision the House added to remove the requirement that individuals obtain a firearms identification card to carry pepper spray.

Page 4 of 5 - House Speaker Robert DeLeo previously said the murder last summer of a Waltham woman, Jennifer Martel, by her boyfriend Jared Remy sparked his desire to look at state laws surrounding domestic violence and restraining orders.

House and Senate negotiators agreed on the final version of a borrowing bill authorizing up to $2.2 billion in spending over four years, according to a summary provided by The Nature Conservancy.

The bill provides for millions in spending for environmental restoration, land conservation and urban agriculture. A tax incentive for land conservation would have its cap increased from $50,000 to $75,000 under the legislation.

The compromise bill would also provide funding for what officials have said would be a $65 million state contribution toward a $300 million project dredging Boston Harbor to allow much larger ships to use the terminals.

New Bedford Harbor would also receive $35 million in state funding earmarked for a federal dredging project.

Urban agriculture programs could see $8 million in funding and up to $111.2 million would be used to fund the cleanup and development of recreation areas in populous areas with limited access to parks.

The bill leaves it to the executive branch to determine, which of the myriad spending areas to pursue.

Steve Long, of The Nature Conservancy, said the Commonwealth Conservation Council is “thrilled” with the conference committee report, which he said would enhance aquatic health and promote “resiliency” for the effects of climate change.

The bill also directs the secretary of public safety and security to conduct a study of all existing quarries and any potential hazards by July 1, 2015. Coastal infrastructure would receive up to $120 million, according to The Nature Conservancy, while air and water could see $66 million in funding and dam repair and removal would be financed with up to $49 million in spending.

House and Senate negotiators filed a compromise bill calling on the state Department of Housing and Community Development to implement training programs for members of housing or redevelopment authorities to instruct them on proper management practices and keep them up to date with open meeting law, public records law, conflict of interest law, fair housing laws, fraud prevention, and fiduciary responsibilities.

Page 5 of 5 - The department is also asked under the bill to set up guidelines for contracts to be executed between the housing authority and its executive director, and the department is able to strike contract provisions that don’t conform to the guidelines.

The department will also create a performance-based monitoring program, setting up uniform assessment standards for evaluating the operation of housing authorities, and establishing guidelines for the designation of a housing authority as “chronically poor performing.”

The department would be allowed to appoint a chief administrator and financial officer for underperforming housing authorities. Each housing authority would be required to submit a public annual plan detailing its goals and objectives.

Under the bill, tenants would be able to elect a member to the housing authority.

The state has 240 housing authorities. Former Chelsea Housing Authority chief Michael McLaughlin was found to be inflating his salary and rigging the inspection process in 2011, spurring attempts at reform of the local housing authority system.

The Quincy Housing Authority is currently embroiled in a controversy over its management practices.

Gov. Deval Patrick proposed to consolidate statewide into six regional housing authorities, but lawmakers objected and moved instead to encourage more collaboration and resource sharing between smaller housing authorities.